By Richard Johnstone | 19 March 2013
Government mistakes contributed to the very low turnout in last November’s police and crime commissioner polls and ‘must not be repeated’, the Electoral Commission has found.
A record peacetime low of 15.1% of the electorate voted in the elections, which were beset by problems caused by the necessary legislation being passed ‘very close’ to the vote, the independent watchdog said.
For example, the order setting out how much returning officers could spend to run and promote the elections came into force on September 13, less than a month before the start of the statutory election period. Home Office guidance on funding then arrived only four working days before the elections, which were held on November 15.
The commission urged the Home Office to ensure all necessary legislation for the next round of elections in 2016 was in place by May 2014.
An Electoral Commission survey also found that only one in five people felt they had enough information on the PCC candidates to make an informed decision.
Information about candidates is posted to every household during parliamentary, mayoral and European elections in the UK but this did not happen ahead of the PCC polls as ministers sought to keep costs down.
More than a quarter of the 2,000 people questioned said they knew ‘nothing at all’ about what the PCC elections were about, while 48% knew ‘not very much’, the survey found.
Electoral Commission chair Jenny Watson said there were many different reasons why people didn’t vote, and in any election there was a limit to how much these could be addressed by government. ‘But one of them was not knowing about the candidates and something can be done about that,’ she added.
‘It’s not enough to think that simply holding an election will inspire participation. That's why at the 2016 PCC elections a candidate information booklet must be sent to every household.’
Watson added that the Home Office ‘doesn’t have experience in preparing for elections and they need to be better supported in future by the parts of government that do’.
Despite this, the report also concluded the elections were well run, and had been delivered consistently across the 41 police force areas in England and Wales where votes were held. No poll was held in London, where the Mayor also acts as the PCC.
Responding to the report, a Home Office spokesman said: ‘More than 5 million people turned out to vote for the first ever election of PCCs, giving them an infinitely bigger mandate than the unelected and invisible police authorities they replaced.
‘As the Electoral Commission notes, turnout at the next PCC elections is likely to be higher. They will take place alongside other leading polls, and people will be more aware of the impact PCCs are making to deliver on public priorities in tackling crime.’
